The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday welcomed England and Wales Cricket Board’s decision to charge Lou Vincent and Naveed Arif for breaching its Anti-Corruption Code, which mirrors the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code, and also clarified that it had no jurisdiction to charge the two players.

In a statement, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The ICC notes and welcomes the ECB’s announcement yesterday that it had charged two players, Lou Vincent and Naveed Arif, in respect of offences alleged to have been committed under the ECB’s Anti-Corruption Code.

“It is important to recognise that these charging decisions have been made by the ECB after a significant amount of investigation work has been carried out in a number of jurisdictions by the ICC’s ACSU, working together with the ECB’s Anti-Corruption Unit, and over a significant period of time.

“In case it has not been made clear, the ICC had no jurisdiction to prosecute these matters, since the matches concerned took place within the ECB’s domestic jurisdiction.

“The ACSU has ensured that these matches have always remained under investigation since the original suspicions first came to light. Unfortunately, because of the conspiratorial nature of corruption offences, and because of the difficulty in gathering sufficient evidence upon which charges could be properly be founded, it required the uncovering of further evidence and disclosures subsequently to be able to put together a sufficient case. That further work was carried out jointly by the anti-corruption officials within the ACSU and the ECB, and reached its natural conclusion during the past week.

“Those who seek to corrupt our game know no boundaries, and we are facing a significant threat both to the international and domestic game. However, it is pleasing to note that this case and the charges that have been issued by the ECB represent the first ever cross-jurisdictional collaboration within the sport of cricket.”